Hope and Social at the 'Come Dine with Us' event.

The new music industries work in a very different way than the record business of the ’60′s. The precious 7 inch of plastic discs of that decade (when music demand far outstripped supply) were rare; clamoured for. Music lovers saved their pennies and tens of them would gather round a single radio to hear the charts. People flocked in droves to record shops to hear the latest discs and treated their vinyl with the cotton glove respect that’s reserved for the finest of diamonds. People Treasured Music.

Today’s music environment is very different. With 13 million bands on [cough - spit] Myspace alone, a growing live scene, thousands of pieces of music becoming available free online daily, and most all forms of recorded music being easily copy and shareable, we can’t consider Music itself to be the carrier of our currency. The Democratisation of Music means more supply of music, and that means that the expectation is that it sells for less. What’s more, music is copyable, shareable, reproducable and even if only say 4% of the bands on Myspace are any good, that’s over half a million bands to compete with.

So, what can we sell?

If we can all now make, distribute and sell music, to succeed we’ve got to differentiate ourselves from the crowd & give people something they can’t get elsewhere. If we can give people something that isn’t repeatable and isn’t copyable then all the better. So, what’s unique and not copyable? A feeling, or an experience. We have a saying in Hope and Social. Have Fun, Make Art. It’s become part of our ethos. If it’s not fun we don’t do it; and if it sounds fun we should probably ask others to get involved. It may not be the same for your tribe, but for Hope and Social the currency we deal in is “Fun”.

3 Course Meal in a Crypt

Come Dine With Us

With the “Make Art, Have Fun” mantra resounding in our communal larynx, we took a demo of a song that sounds vaguely like French supermarket music, added the germ of an idea that a cheese and wine night could be fun and multiplied that by the effervescent mind of the brilliant Ben Denison‘s.

What we we came up with was a great way to galvanise our close fans, to get them involved in making art with us, to have a lot of fun and to raise money to fund our music making. We invited our fans to our home, the studio we’ve recorded all our albums to date in (and the venue for the Crypt Gig last year). We promised to cook great food, to have the band wait on, and play at our guests tables and finally, once everyone was suitably relaxed drunk, record a song together. We named it “Come Dine With Us” and we invited people by song.

The Event

We’ve already blogged about the amazing people who helped us pull all this together, but to see them in action is something else. A picture says a thousand words and all that:

Hope & Social • Come Dine With Us [Behind-the-scenes] from 3B Media on Vimeo.

We turned our studio into a French Bistro for the evening, we served a 3 course gourmet French meal to 70 people, the band waited tables, played at people’s tables, silent auctioned one-off items and recorded a song with our good people.

Offer Value

Our (initially flummoxed) drummer Gary Stewart (who joined us this past year) said, “I don’t understand… so you just think stuff up that you want to do, and people pay for you to do it?” and quite simply the answer is yes. When we do special events, we do our best to ensure that we give value to those who care enough to attend. We price it as something we could afford to do. Through this we’ve built relationships with our fans which enables us to sell unique events such as our Crypt gig last year and Come Dine With Us as far more than a standard gig.

People buy into our events because they know it will not only be a good time, but also that we’re not trying to bleed as much profit out of them as maybe we could. All our standard releases are Pay What You Want. People know we’re not in the game of ripping people off. Most importantly though, people know we’ll include them in the night and as in the case of our recent Come Dine With Us event, we might well make a song with ‘em for our album.

The Wine Bottle Orchestra

The Song

James Hamilton wrote a wine bottle orchestra part, we tuned 50 wine bottles, asked guests to bring an instrument of their choice and we made art. We recorded the song live along with our fans singing, blowing, clanking, banging and singing along. As Ed Waring said in his recent blog:

“Eurospin is not my favourite song on the album but it’s kinda my favourite bit on the album. Watch the amazing video below. You got to love the amazement on our faces that it’s working and the fact that the crowd just make it look so easy…”

Hope & Social • Eurospin from 3B Media on Vimeo.

… additionally however, the story of how we made this song has helped us reach many new fans.

The Footprint

More from 'Come Dine with Us'

The response to the event and the concept of the event has been amazing. In advance the twitter and facebook communities were rife with activity around the event, and by turning our guests into band members on the record itself, they became the evangelists for our record.

It’s not by accident that the tools we use to sell and promote our work online include the option to share. There’s the 3B Media videos, and the bandcamp music which can be easily embedded on most websites. Bandcamp also has the transformative “Post to twitter” and “Post to Facebook” direct links and through the stats package we can see this appearing daily in people’s posts. There are new blogs sprouting up about the event, and through selling more Fun we can reach out to even more new people.

The music industry has changed, however if you know your band and if you know your tribe you can give them something they can’t get anywhere else. Find that thing and that‘s your currency!

Tales from the Crypt

The following is a post from Rich Huxley of the UK band Hope and Social. Rich will be contributing a monthly series giving insight into his experiences as an independent artist. 

Following on from my first guest post here on Creative Deconstruction, I wanted to focus on the wider implications of one of the special events I talked about there, and the release that followed; to expand on the financial viability of the event/the release and the other reasons why this special box-set and concert package are proving valuable for the band.

The Deal

On the 17th October 2009 Hope and Social held a special concert in our studio ; the ticket-price was also to include a box-set (band blogs about the event and the box set here). Exclusively limited to 110 places, and priced at £25 ($40), we asked our fans to join withus in the place that gave birth to our debut album, to bring themselves in good voice, to bring a candle to light the way to the studio and a piece of writing for use by the band, and to help us make an artifact, a work of art and a record of the night. Strong advocates of the Pay What You Want model, we made this one-off event and it’s accompanying box set our first ever minimum price package.

The box set

What you got:

1. A ticket to the “Be the Architect” show at our studio “The Crypt”; a two hour performance.

2. A leatherette (woo, posh!) box containing:

• Two CDs: a 68 minute live recording of the night’s performance “Be The Architect” and the band’s debut album Architect of this Church (the architect of the church is buried within the crypt. The wall bears a plaque, which is where the name of our album came from) with accompanying download.
• An 80 page book containing photos of the night, and the writings of all the attendees (we asked that everyone bring a piece of writing, a hope, a though, a wish, or, seeing as we’re in a crypt, a “prayer”).
• A brand new Hope and Social song with lyrics made up of people’s “prayers”, on download.
• A 139 page PDF photo slideshow of the event.
• A credit on the album for your part in its creation.

The Benefits

Community

It’s very important to us that our fans have a sense of community. We have a great time with audience participation and want people to feel like they’re a part of this thing, and that everyone matters.

This sense of community is our key currency as artists in the new music landscape. Attention and love are just as important as having great music that people want to consume. If the band did one thing on this night it was to make our fans feel special, like we’re all in this together.

It’s worth mentioning that this single event has done more to bring our fans together than anything else we’ve done. It gave our fans the opportunity to connect not only with the band, but also with each other. And while the vast majority of those who came to the Be The Architect Crypt Gig were existing fans, the reach to new fans has been wide and far, and continues.

The Internets

The internet footprint for this show and for the box-set has by far surpassed any single event we’vedone before, even including our Glastonbury shows.

The twitter hashtag #cryptgigwas very well populated before, during and after the event. On the day of the show in particular fans, helpers and band alike were uploading pics of the venue as we set up, audioboo-ing, tweeting their geographical progress on their way to the show, uploading twitpics during the show and generally spreading good vibes for the band and the event. More recently, as people havebeen receiving their box-set, #bethearchitecthas been spreading the news of the lovely artifact.

"Community is our key currency as artists in the new music landscape."

Even more pronounced however has been the blog footprint. Not only have we featured in fan’s blogs, but the box-set has created enough of a storm for being a beautifully crafted and crowd sourced artifact that it’s been featured on new music blogs like newmusicalorder.com and included on the bandcamp blog about physical releases. There have been photo blogs about the event, as well as the box-set, and the band’s facebook pageis still pickingup comments around the release. Our blog page for the release is populated with comments and flickrand facebook photos again are spreading our word for us.

A video made by Phil Barber, photographer for the night is now up on Vimeo, again it’s something that our community can share. This feeds back into the community aspect again as now we’ve made the connection with Phil. He wants to work with us again and make a video for a new track.

The Money

We had 110 people at the show which brought in £2750-00 ($4,400.00) and after expenses and the manufacture of 200 of the box sets, we’d slightly overspent. We spent £3,000-00 ($4,800-00), so as we are selling the set for £35 (£56) after the fact, we actually needed to sell another 8 sets to break even (bit of an error of planning but hey, that’s being in a band so far as I can tell).

Fortunately, the day the box-set went on sale we sold 12 units, so we were straight into the black, every box we sell now, online or more likely at shows is pure  profit… I say profit – this doesn’t account for any time put in by band members, probably in the region of 300 man hours pulling this together. We don’t get paid as such. What’s interesting to me is that really supports Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans“. If we were selling 1,000 box-sets, then we’re making £30,000-00 ($48,000-00); that would pay for a quarter of the bands year to live and be able to work on music. Hopefully, we’re getting there.

The Invisible Benefits

Something that people never seem to talk about in new music industry blogs is that there are some people that you just can’t reach online. Additionally, they leave no internet footprint. There is no blog to follow an event or a release, there’s no twitter feed, flickr pics, facebook page comments, this is stuff that’s not trackable and not online.

What’s more, it’s probably the majority of people, even ardent music fans may not be active as a force for artists on the internet. I can’t count the times (certainly up until this year) where I’ve bought a CD or a download or went to a great gig, and didn’t talk about it online… what I would do though is talk about it with friends, play them the music, recommend going to a gig. These are invisible benefits.

Inertia

I find it particularly interesting with Be The Architect, that people are actually sharingtheir own work, their own writings and pictures of themselves. Whether traceable or invisible, the sharingof the “Be The Architect” night and box set is all the more because it’s much more than just a gig and a box-set; it was a unique experience for band and audience alike, and that the fans made this happen with us seems to make them all the more passionate about sharing.

There’s a number of reasons why the band I’m in are called Hope and Social. We’ve always been sociable people, always wanted our shows to feel like it’s a gang of us, like we’re all in this together, a community. Also, we’re optimists. We believe that people are generally good, and that most people want good things for all human beings. We hope that if we invite people into our world for a few hours at a show, for an hour on a record that we can connect with and lift people a little, make people forget the humdrum, and see beauty. We hope that our sociable tendencies are a force for good. (Also, there’s a great record called Hope and Adams by a band called Wheat that’s just incredible, so we stole shared in that idea a little bit.)

It’s through this that everyone who worked on the Crypt Gig with us was willing to work for free, from lighting to the bar, from manning the door to baking brownies and refreshments to sell. It’s because of this that many of our fans will go to the ends of the earth for us, and it’s this passion that gives the band energy and inertia to move forward.

Hope and Social

Rich Huxley is a member of the gloriously independent Hope and Social, a founder of Alamo Music – the UK’s first fan-owned record label, and a record producer.

The case for independence:

One of the questions I like to ask when I meet people through music is: “How many artists do you know personally who have a record deal that they’re happy with?” The answer is almost exclusively “None“, very occasionally “one or two”. Most go onto agree that the happiest artists we know are those who directly connect with their musical world; with their fans, venues, promoters. I also like to ask emerging artists: “Outside of the creation of music, who has done the most to further your musical career?” Honestly, most people say a manager, a friendly promoter, a good friend who helps with web stuff, videos, photography. Though often ignored, the answer should most often include “Me!”. This is not to ignore the impact of the great people who help you; however You are your (or your band’s) greatest asset. The people who help you, absolutely, they’re vital and need more thanks than we can probably ever give back, but they want to help You. That’s what Independence is about.

For Hope and Social, we realised that pretty much all the good that had come to us had not originated from pluggers, press companies and PRs. In fact, with the notable exceptions of the sadly no-longer active Fistral, they hoovered our bank accounts dry and when there was no money left for them, the phone calls stopped, their enthusiasm it seems was only on a paid for basis and despite their failure to follow through on promises, the cord was cut. We realised that the good things had been things we’d generated ourselves and the things that were generated by our close friends and fans. So, in 2005, at the start of “DIY”, the members of “Hope and Social” quietly asked the 20 or so people who through the years had pledged “if I ever win the lottery, we’ll look after you guys”. Between us we proudly founded Alamo Music the UK’s first fan-funded, fan owned record label. Why “Alamo”?
“I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms.” William Barret Travis, Texan commander – The Battle of the Alamo

What’s working for us?

Connecting directly with fans
Through our Website, Facebook, WordPress Blogs, and Twitter (@thehuxcapacitor, @socialsimon, @edhombre), through YouTube, Flickr. As an independent artist, the most cost effective means to connect with fans are the free ones. Through following, and meaningfully connecting with the likes of Steve Lawson, Andrew Dubber, Ben Denison and your own Refe Tuma, we’re discovering new means of connecting with fans, new ideas about how to release, tools to save us time, and have been introduced to new ways of making our work pay.

A band, a fan, and a kazoo.

Videos
For a 50th of their estimated worth we continue to make videos with the fantastic Mark Wordsworth; videos which garnered MTV and VH1/2 rotation. We paid for film and not a lot more, involved people who love us and our music and got people to work and perform for free. Nobody got paid, they just got fed and watered people and to be part of a something exciting, to make art with us. Looking For Answers features friends and fans (if there’s one thing fans like to see on your site, on TV, in the press even more than they want to see their favourite artist, it’s themselves) and they pass it on, they are the new PR, the buzz and the way to new people. Likewise for the Four Day Hombre videos, particularly the 1 shot “1,000 Bulbs” video and The First Word is the Hardest, shot for next to nothing, on 35MM film. Mark went on to make videos for Embrace, was nominated in Cannes for his James Morrison video and has recently moved to New Zealand to seek further film work. What’s more, our band supported Embrace on a national UK tour through this connection, playing shows to thousands of new fans.

Blogging
Both personally, and for the band. The reality of making your way in music is, for many people, more interesting than the rock star dream. My advice, write about it, be interesting, create content as often and as best you can. Eventually (I’m told) it becomes natural and effortless.

Pay What You Want
There’s plenty of talk of the Free Model and the Pay What you Want (PWYW) models, and quite a kick back against it too. I can’t recommend it enough. We’ve averaged £7 per unit here in the UK, £3 more than Radiohead and £6 more than with major label record deals. The key is, connect with people, then give them something to, and a reason to buy. We’ve had people swap a CD for £50, some people take 3 for £5, you can download from our bandcamp for nothing, all we ask (and even this isn’t compulsory) is that you value music.

Special Events
We try to make all shows special, we give out kazoos to the audience for one of our songs brass lines (1,500 kazoos at Glastonbury this year!), we do House Concerts (or as we call them in the north of England, “Living Room Gigs“), we relish audience participation, we ask people to shows in our studio, we wear blue jackets (we know we’re not cool, so at least we’re recognisable) and we’re nice to talk with afterwards, in fact, better than that, we’re great fun. It’s almost like fun is the thing we offer.

How do we survive? Making Music Pay.

Hope and Social at a recent gig.

The band is one of the many things we do to earn. It is by no means the thing that pays our mortgage, however, it enables us to do things that pay us, which in turn enables us make the music we want to make. Ed’s photography has led to a career in photography, his production work with our band brings in more production work with other bands. Simon’s artistic output includes paintings/drawings, great experimental theatre, web design and all the artwork for Hope and Social. Our websites and band artwork act as a portfolio for his design work, and each fanbase feeds the others. Me, I record, mix and produce bands, talk about how to make your musical career work for you, deliver rock schools for young people (and residential “Real Band” experiences for the corporate market), guest blog, present at events, colleges, universities, mentor and coach bands. We are all founders and owners of our independent record label. Hope and Social acts as a hub for all the good, grand and great things we do which pay our rent or mortgage.

Roundup

It’s important to think of independence as a choice rather than a last resort. As a band, we kicked back against of a couple of years of searching for the deal of all record deals (full control of what we record, where and with whom, decent percentage split, a commitment to promote our work, control over what’s spent on the band [and therefore recoupable""], control over publishing [we didn’t want to be featured on a McDonald’s ad, that’s for sure]). Long story short, this deal did not present itself, or perhaps doesn’t exist. While we had plenty of interest from labels and some very good people at labels, our efforts however would have been (and now are being) better spent not seeking outside help, but by seeking new fans and better and more exciting ways of connecting with fans.

By choosing this route, you’re not discounting that there may come a time when licensing your music, or working with labels, promoters, agents, PR’s makes sense; rather you’re strengthening your bargaining position should you choose to outsource. The busier you get as an artist, the longer it takes to manage all of your networks, to book your shows, to account. As of now, Hope and Social remain independent, and today are enjoying our careers more than at any time when we were chasing a record deal, licensing, radio or TV. The music industry is not only the “old record industry”, PR’s, the NME, BBC Radio 1. The music industry is the sum of all musical output of humankind that is for public consumption, it’s the bloggers, the people running conventions, the startup bands, the proactive tweeters. If you’re making music, writing about music, sharing your love of music, you are part of the music industry; you keep the wheels turning.

What will work for you?

The above may not work for you or your band, it’s about finding the personality in what you do, and exuding it from every tweet, blog, photo, conversation. Be interesting, evangelise, create great music, create great art, use beautiful images, create amazing artwork, give people choice about how to consume your music and how to connect with you, use the sites and networks that your potential fans are already using, work in and around music, sharing your knowledge, record and work with other bands, collaborate, share other’s interesting content. Work harder, and smarter than everyone else. Oh, and you should connect with me.

Rich Huxley

Rich Huxley is an independent musician, member of Hope and Social (nee Four Day Hombre), a blogger, a music industry consultant, a mentor and coach, a prolific proponent of social media, a recording engineer, an enthusiast for the “honesty box”/pay what you want model, a guitarist for hire, a mix engineer, a founder of Alamo Music – the UK’s first fan-owned record label, a producer and a generally over-excitable English chap.

In any well-managed business each member of the team has a set of specific measurables to help them – and their employers – know whether or not they’re on track. Without these milestones it can be very difficult to remain focused and accomplish long term goals.

Artists and musicians are no different – except that they may need this structure even more than their white-collar counterparts. A career in music is something that builds slowly and takes constant, focused attention to properly cultivate. The goal is sustainability. You want to have the means to quit your day job and support yourself with your music. It can take years in the trenches to reach that point, and without strategic goals and milestones it is easy to lose focus. The most frustrating thing for an artist to wake up and realize they’re off track and have been treading water for months (or years!)

1,000 True Fans

One of the best music-career milestones that I’ve come across is the concept that Wired co-founder and blogger Kevin Kelly dubbed ’1,000 True Fans.’

The concept is fairly simple, and since most of you are likely already familiar with it I’ll just provide a brief explanation. If an artist can cultivate a base of just 1,000 fans who are radically committed to his work, those fans will provide enough income to support that artist. The theory goes that each ‘true fan’ will spend on average about $100 per year on the artist. That adds up to an annual revenue stream of $100,000. Even after expenses that should be enough for any individual artist to live comfortably.

There is a common argument against the 1,000 True Fans concept. If you are a member of a band it may have jumped out at you right away. $100,000 per year gross may be enough for an individual artist, but once you divvy that up between the members of a four- or five-piece band it starts looking a bit measly.

Fortunately, the math isn’t as bad as it sounds. Remember – these 1,000 True Fans represent only the most committed subsection of your fan base. There many other fans - what Kevin Kelly calls ‘Lesser Fans’ – contributing to your career. I’m not going to use the term ‘Lesser Fans’ because I don’t like it. Instead, I’d rather use the terminology that Tom Silverman used at the New Music Seminar here in Chicago on October 6. Silverman split fans into four categories: super fans, active fans, passive fans and potential fans.

Think of your fan base as a pyramid. The super fans are the smallest group, but contribute the most revenue per fan. They’re at the top. Beneath them you have a much larger group of active fans. Instead of spending $100/year, these fans may spend closer to $20/year on your products and shows. Yet, because there are about five times more active fans than super fans, their gross contribution ends up being about the same – $100,000 annually. The total revenue from these two groups is $200,000/year.

Below that you have your passive fans. Again, there are about five times more passive fans than active fans, but they only download your most popular singles, resulting in a spend of about $2 per year. This group contributes about $50,000 per year.

Potential fans of course make up the largest group at the base of the pyramid. These are people that may not be aware of your work, but who have an appreciation for the style or genre of music you play. Maybe they follow similar bands. This group contributes only a fraction of the revenue of the previous group, but when it all adds up may equal something along the lines of $5,000 per year.

That brings our total to about $255,000, or a quarter of a million dollars. Split that up four ways and although you won’t be able to afford that Bentley you’ve always wanted, you each should be living comfortably. And remember, this is just the revenue coming directly from your fans. This does not include sync licensing, sponsorships, grants, royalties, etc. The actually number could be closer to $300,000.

To 1,000 and beyond

The 1,000 True Fan marker is a milestone, but your career shouldn’t stop there. Obviously, you want as many people as possible to hear and enjoy your music. The bigger the tip of the pyramid gets, the more that will trickle down into the rest of your fanbase. Each super fan is going to influence several other people (sometimes hundreds, thanks to social media) and evangelize a few new active and passive fans who have to potential to one day become super fans themselves.

In a follow-up post I’m going to address how to go about cultivating these 1,000 True Fans. One of the most frequent questions that arises when this concept is discussed is, ‘How do I get there?’ I’ve put together some strategies that will hopefully help to answer that question.

In the meantime, is this outline clear? Let me know your questions, comments, concerns and I will try to incorporate them into the follow-up to make sure all of this is as helpful as possible.

Modest Mouse recently released an album comprised of 7 previously released singles

The way listeners enjoy music has changed drastically in the past ten years. Technology has completely reshaped the marketplace through file sharing, single track downloads, online music streaming, etc. Yet, the way that music is compiled, released and marketed has remained largely the same.

Most artists still spend months and years producing full albums, pouring the majority of whatever marketing budget they have into a single event – the album’s release date. Despite this, most listeners will only download two or three songs. After that, they have another two years to wait for new material.

In an increasingly competitive market where fan engagement is at a premium, artists can’t afford to continue following this model. Modern music marketing is about the artist-fan relationship. Along with live performances, new music releases should be considered the backbone of this relationship, not simply a product to drive revenue or attendance.

In a recent report on the music industry by the Forrester Research Group, author Mark Mulligan argues that to spend the time and resources releasing full-length albums only serves to “put speed bumps in the continual artist-fan relationship.” Instead, he encourages artists to “think outside of the confines of the album and maintain steady, continual streams of creative output.” The report has a lot more to say about releasing music, some that I agree with and some I don’t. I cover the full report here. But I think that Mulligan is spot on in what he says here. It’s what fans want, and it can pay big dividends for the artist.

Releasing smaller amounts of music more frequently will keep fans engaged with an artist much more effectively than larger batches every year or two. Not only will that artist’s music stay in listeners’ playlists longer, it also gives those listeners a reason to check in more often to see what’s new. That’s huge from a marketing perspective – it’s a lot more effective to promote your products and services to a customer that seeks you out than one that you go out and find yourself.

This “continual stream of creative output” doesn’t have to be limited to new music, although I do believe that music should remain the primary source of content. Music videos and merchandise are obvious options, but other content could include behind the scenes footage, individual files track files for remixing, interviews, mobile apps, even games. Allow fans to submit their own content and handpick the best for official release. Anything that you can think of to give fans new ways of interacting with your music is fair game.

Adopting this type of release strategy doesn’t mean you have to toss out the album format entirely. For all the ‘Album is Dead!’ headlines there is still quite a bit of life left in the full-length as a creative construct.

Still, there are many non-traditional ways to put together an album. Once you’ve released seven or eight individual tracks, there’s no reason why you can’t compile them along with a few unreleased songs and put it out as an album. Design special-edition packaging and market it as a collector’s edition. We’ve already been seeing a move in this direction from bands like Modest Mouse who recently released seven vinyl singles before gathering them into a larger full length album. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins just anounced plans to take that much further.

The main takeaway here should be never to allow what has ‘always been done’ to prevent you as an artist from doing something better. The changing market has opened up incredible opportunities to increase listener engagement. Take a hard look at your current release strategy – does it serve that goal? If it doesn’t it’s likely time to rethink your approach.

Originally published at Audiolife.com.

Throughout the history of rock and roll certain bands or sounds have emerged every decade or so that have defined an era of music. Elvis, The Beatles, Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Nirvana – each one of these acts challenged the mainstream or uniquely tapped into the pulse of their generation. It’s now 2009 – who is our defining act? What is this decade’s sound?

Over the past forty-eight hours this conversation has come up twice for me, with two separate groups of people. No one could point to a single band or new sound that feels like it could be our Elvis, or our Kurt Cobain. There isn’t any one act that stands out from the crowd enough to consider definitive. No one sound that we can truly call alternative.

That may not mean much to members of my generation. By the time most of us were old enough to develop our own musical tastes Kurt Cobain was already dead. We’ve never known anything but a world where bands come and go and leave little more than a faint impression on the cultural consciousness.

I was born nearly 20 years after For What It’s Worth was recorded by Buffalo Springfield. What I know of the cultural and political unrest of the Vietnam era comes from history books and Hollywood. Yet, every time I hear those unmistakeable first few notes I feel like somehow I get it. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen Forrest Gump half a dozen times. Or perhaps it’s because Stephen Stills so artfully captured the tension and uncertainty of the late sixties when he wrote that song. Even someone as far removed from that time as myself is transported there.

Where is the song that  captures where the world was at on Sept. 11th, 2001? Or the deep divides over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Or simply the rise of technology and the socialization of the internet and business? Who knows? If those songs exist they don’t seem to have made the kind of mark they should have made.

Hardly any of the bands that were on the radio when I was in school are still active today. And if they are very few people care. Third Eye Blind came out with their first new record in six years this month. It was so under my radar that I didn’t think to include it on that week’s list of new releases. Coldplay, Radiohead – these bands are more recent and certainly sell a lot of records, but will we really sit our grandkids down and say, “It really was ‘all yellow.’”

So has music gotten worse? Or, from a different angle, has culture itself been diluted?

There are certainly those who would answer a resounding ‘yes!’ to both those questions. Yet, I have the privilege of hearing talented artists making great music every day. Most of these artists will never reach the level of exposure that ensured Nirvana’s place in music history, but the artistry is there.

As for culture, I’m not sure it’s been diluted. I would instead argue that an individual artist’s ability to influence culture has been hindered by a compartmentalization of the market.

It is so much easier to record music these days, and so much cheaper to distribute it. New voices are springing up everywhere, faster than anyone can pay attention. Instead of seeking to fill arenas and speak to entire generations like artists of the 60′s and 70′s, most musicians are carving out niches. They find a modest base of fans who have found some connection to the music they play and they speak to them.

So as the world becomes more globalized, the influence of an individual artist or band is becoming increasingly compartmentalized. This isn’t a bad thing – in fact, the idea that bands are feeling less pressure to fit into the mainstream mold is very encouraging. Yet it’s interesting that this has left us for the first time at the end of a decade with nothing to hold up as our anthem.

What do you think – is this important? Does it worry you, or do you not really care? I want to hear your opinions.

White Rabbits’ aptly named ‘Percussion Gun’ is a clever, well-crafted barrage of tribal rhythms, plunking pianos and raw, melodic vocals. In the video, the stage spins around as if to represent what happens to your head after the three minutes and eight seconds are just about over. The imagery, like the music, has a stark intensity about it and never quite stands still. This is one of the best recent examples of a video that consists of little more than the band performing their song, yet remains engaging and even entertaining throughout. It also does what a great music video should do -- makes you want to see them do it live. Directed by Andrew Droz Palermo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IClBpch9vmM

Actor is the sophomore album of 26 year old Annie Clark. Clark began her career touring with the eclectic Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens, and has now recorded two solo albums under the name St. Vincent. Clark built her arrangements differently this time around -- in Garageband, actually -- and the result is something of a departure from the guitar rock of her first album, Marry Me. The track ‘Actor out of Work’ is an exception, with every bit of its two minutes and thirty-seconds propelled forward by fuzzed out guitars and driving toms.

The video itself is clever, featuring a group of actors crying on cue during an audition. In an interview with Spinner Clark admitted that she was hesitant to film such a literal take on the song, but that she was sold on the idea by directors Ian Kibbey and Corey Creasey -- better known collectively as Terri Timely. “There is something so darkly comic and eerily unnerving about the act of crying on cue. It feels like such a lie -- a betrayal in a sense -- to see someone burst into hysterics in one moment, and then, as if it had never happened, stand up, smile and go back to checking their text messages. Sometimes I had to restrain myself from laughing out of discomfort, and sometimes I had to restrain myself from crying -- it’s as contagious as yawning.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZW9NYX6JZA

Here’s a recap of what went on in the music industry this week. Make sure to check out anything you might have missed and leave your comments. Know something we don’t? Submit a story.

Most Popular:

Why the Music Industry still needs Taste-Makers - With so much new music flooding the system listeners are dying for someone to tell them who to listen to.

The Resurgence of Vinyl Could be Just What the Music Industry Needs - A ghost from music’s past makes a comeback.

This Week:

Album Sales Continue to Drop – Down 18% in May – More bad news from Soundscan, but what does this means artists?

Why Free Music was Inevitable: Part One - The first installment in a series that seeks to explain why the value of recorded music continues to drop.

Study Confirms Longer Music Samples Sell More Tracks - Listeners want to try before they buy, but the major retailers still won’t let them.

Video Pick of the Week: Grizzly Bear Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear’s new video might make your head explode.

This Week in Music History:

On this week in 2003, a High court judge in London ruled that rap lyrics should be treated as a foreign language after admitting that he was unsure of the meaning of ‘shizzle my nizzle’ and ‘mish mish man.’ The court battle was over a copyright issue between the Ant’ill Mob and the Heartless Crew who had used the lyrics on a remix. (From This Day in Music.)

Grizzly Bear have been doing alright for themselves lately. The Internet is buzzing with talk about their new album Veckatimest, and their current single Two Weeks is already a certifiable indie rock hit.

Two Weeks’ video was shot by Patrick Daughters and employs an eerie, slow motion aesthetic that sort of sucks you in and compels you to keep watching even though very little appears to be happening. An appropriate choice, as the song itself has a similar effect. In all, another interesting addition to Daughter’s impressive videography. Make sure you keep watching until the end.